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October 2013 Winner: Jessica’s Day of the Dead Cupcakes

Jessica’s fantastic Day of the Dead cupcakes stole the show at our October competition, ‘Death by Chocolate’. These cupcakes have a Mexican chocolate sponge with a chocolate orange filling, decorated with a traditional Mexican candy skull. Creepy yet delicious!

2. Melt chocolate and milk together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave. As soon as the chocolate is melted, remove from heat, stir to blend, set aside and cool.

3. Cream the butter and soft brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add chocolate mixture and vanilla and mix until completely blended. Add flour mixture in three parts, blending well until flour disappears.

4. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are stiff but not dry. Gently fold whites into batter. Spoon batter into cupcake papers about 2/3 full. Cook for about 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

5. To make the filling: melt the orange flavoured chocolate and place in a mixing bowl with the cream and icing sugar. Beat the chocolate cream until smooth. Chill until the mixture becomes firm enough to pipe, stir occasionally.

6. When the cupcakes are cooled, carefully cut out the middle section like you would a butterfly bun. Pipe (or spoon) a small amount of the chocolate filling into the middle of the sponge to replace the part you just cut out. With this piece, cut off the top, and place on the filling, softly pressing it down so it is level with the rest of the cupcake sponge.

7. To make the frosting: cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add milk, vanilla and cinnamon and continue beating until frosting is of a good spreading consistency. Pipe/spread over cooled cupcakes and decorate.

8. I melted a bar of white chocolate into 3D skull moulds, and when set placed them on top of the icing. If you are a keen decorator or want to impress guests even further, you can carefully paint the skulls like I did to look like the Mexican day of the dead skulls.

August 2013 Winner: Jessie’s Ursula’s Tentacles Devil’s Food Cupcakes

Jessie’s creepily realistic Ursula’s Tentancles ooze out of a rich chocolate cupcake with ganache icing. Her vegan recipe is adapted from Lily Vanilli’s Devil’s Food recipe in A Zombie Ate My Cupcake. You can read more about Jessie’s cupcakes on her blog Mad Hatters Pantry.

Cupcakes

1/4 cup non-dairy margarine

2/3 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup soy yogurt

4 tbsp strong coffee, cooled

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Mix together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside to curdle. After 5-10 min it will look thick and a little lumpy – this is good.
3. Use an electric mixer to cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the soy milk mixture, vanilla extract and 1/4 cup flour and beat until fully combined.
4. Sift the remaining flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a separate bowl.
5. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture a little at a time, alternating with the soy yogurt, and stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the coffee 1 tbsp at a time, stirring in gently until smooth.
5. Use an ice-cream scoop to spoon the batter into the prepared cases, filling around 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 min until the tops spring back when lightly pressed and a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
6. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing

100g semisweet dark chocolate

100g dark chocolate with min 70% cocoa solids

1/2 cup caster sugar

Pinch of salt

1 cup soy yogurt

1/4 tsp lemon juice

1. Melt the chocolate using a double boiler or heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (without letting the water touch the bowl).

2. Remove from the gear and mix in the sugar and salt. Quickly add the soy yogurt and lemon juice, stirring until combined. Make sure you add it before the chocolate starts to set! Set the mixture aside to cool (or pop on the fridge for a few minutes if you can’t wait).

4. Take one black ball and begin to roll it so that the end tapers. Do the same with a dark purple ball. Roll the two tapered balls together until you have a tentacle shape. Set aside and repeat until you have 48 tentacles.

5. Divide the light purple into 144 pieces and roll into small balls. These will be your suckers so you may need to make more or less depending on the size of your tentacles. Make a small dimple in each ball.

6. Leave to dry out a little (I left mine overnight).

7. Stick 3 suckers to each tentacle, securing with edible glue. Stick 4 tentacles into the icing on each cupcake. If you want them to have a melty, wet-look then do this a few hours before serving. For firmer, upright tentacles do this just before you serve.

July 2013 Winner: Lisa’s Life’s a Beach Cupcakes

Lisa’s beautifully crafted and deliciously creamy cupcakes for The Great British Summer competition were created from no less than four recipes: toffee ice cream, cupcakes, butterscotch sauce and vanilla buttercream!